Performance Report 18
and
November 2005
ROGER HILL
DIRECTOR OF PROBATION
1
Foreword
This report contains information on the performance of the National Probation Service in the first
half of 2005-06. I am very pleased and impressed to see that the high performance levels reported
at the end of the first quarter have been improved upon in every one of the key business areas.
Enforcement has improved to 92% with London now also exceeding the target. Performance on
accredited programmes is now ahead of target; ECP/unpaid work completions are almost on target
(against a substantially increased target); basic skills awards, despite the impact of OLASS
continue to be delivered at almost twice the level expected; and the target for the provision of
accurate and timely ethnicity data has been exceeded for the first time.
In the key indicators that are below target there are encouraging signs of improvement that lead
me to believe that the targets are achievable: compliance is now at 81%, just 4% short of the
target and DTTO/DRR completions are now at 87% of profile with a record number of completions
in September.
The table below shows not only how much we are improving but also how much more we are
delivering now than at any time in our history.
2
The weighted scorecard
The weighted scorecard presented at the end of this report covers the first half of 2005/06.
There are, once again some large variations but there isn’t the same level of volatility
experienced in the last quarter. In order to make sense of the information in light of the
new measures that have been included for the first time, a short explanation is given
where any area has moved more than 10 places in either direction since the first quarter.
Please note that the data on PPO and high risk offenders that has been collected for
August and September has been included in this scorecard. Additionally, data on
appointments arranged and kept, and sickness absence information will be included in the
next scorecard. It should be noted that some areas’ rankings have been affected by
depressed figures on basic skills as a result of the impact of OLASS in those areas. This
is true of some of the areas in the North West, South West, particularly Wiltshire, and
North East, particularly Northumbria.
There are 24 areas above zero on performance against target, three more than at the last
quarter. I will reiterate my commitment to Ministers and the Chief Executive of NOMS that
at least 90% of areas will be above zero by the end of 2005-06 and my expectation that all
areas will be above zero.
The results for the first half of the year are good – better than at the same stage in any of
the previous years since the NPS was created. I expect them to get better still.
Roger Hill
Director of Probation
National Probation Service
3
Introduction
Enforcement
92% of relevant cases monitored between April and September 2005 were enforced within 10 days
in accordance with National Standards. The NPS achieved the highest ever enforcement figure for
a single month of 93% in July.
Compliance
Compliance measures those cases where there was no second unacceptable failure to comply
(third for licences) and includes orders that have been allowed to continue by the court following
breach action. At 81%, performance continues to edge towards the 85% target but progress has
been slow. The need to find a fair and meaningful measure of compliance is high on the NPD
agenda and compliance measurement for next year in terms of target definition is under review.
The number of completions of programmes between April and September 2005 is 7% above the
profiled (expected) target. The 7,255 completions achieved so far represent an increase over the
same period last year of 6%.
24,540 completions have been achieved between April and September 2005, just 2% below the
profiled target. There were 6,779 more completions than at the same stage in 2004-05, an
increase of 38%.
6,362 DTTOs and DRRs commenced between April and September 2005 meaning that 80% of the
profiled target was met. This is against a target that increased by 23% since last year’s. There
were approximately 1,500 (31%) more starts during April and September 2005 than during the
same period last year.
There were 1,735 completions of DTTOs and DRRs between April and September 2005, 87% of
the profiled target. However, there were a record 325 completions in September alone which
leaves an average of 377 per month until the end of the year for the target to be met.
Basic Skills
23,208 offenders commenced basic skills courses during the first half of 2005-06, 61% above the
profiled target. There were over 9,000 more starts than at the same stage last year, an increase of
64%.
7,930 basic skills awards were delivered in during the first half of 2005-06, 76% above the profiled
target and 4,544 more awards than during the first half of 2004-05, an increase of 134%.
4
Sickness Absence
There was no improvement in the average number of days lost due to sickness per employee in
the first half of 2005-06 from the first quarter but at 11.8 days it represents half a day less than the
2004-05 average.
Victims
Performance on victims remained at the level achieved last year when 93% of victims were
contacted within the 8-week standard. This exceeds the 85% target.
The target is to complete 90% of risk of harm assessments, risk management plans and OASys
sentence plans on high risk offenders within five working days of the commencement of the order
or release into the community. This is a new performance target for the probation service and
areas have required clarification and time in order to provide the data. This is the first time in
2005/06 when all 42 Probation Areas have submitted data, and where the achievement of the
three criteria have been required in order to satisfy the target. We now have robust data to report
on from August 2005 and this shows performance in England and Wales at 68%.
The target is to complete 90% of risk of harm assessments and OASys sentence plans on Prolific
and other Priority Offenders within five working days of commencement of the order or release into
the community. There were similar issues with those of the high risk target but again we now have
reliable data from August 2005. Performance nationally is 66% but there is evidence of
improvement between August and September.
The proportion of court reports completed during the first quarter of 2005-06 within the timescale
set by the court was 98%. At the time of publication, the 2nd quarter data was not available due to
late and poor quality returns from some areas. This information is derived from the monthly court
reports extracts made to RDS. In future areas which do not send their data on time or whose data
fails the validation checks will score zero on this target in the weighted scorecard.
97% of data on offenders starting community orders was accurate and timely with respect to
ethnicity, as was 95% of data on offenders starting supervision under licence, giving an average of
96% which means that the target was exceeded for the first time.
For enquiries about any issues relating to this report please contact Roger McGarva, Head of
Regions & Performance, Tel: 020 7217 8244; E-mail: Roger.McGarva2@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
For enquiries about the data please contact Paris Mikkides, Head of Performance Standards &
Quality Assurance, Tel: 020 7217 8812; E-mail: Paris.Mikkides@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.
5
1. Enforcement and Compliance – April to September 2005
NPS Performance target 6 is that the National Probation Service takes enforcement action in
accordance with the National Standard in 90% of cases where the offender has breached his/her
order. To fully meet the standard, three things must be achieved:
breach action taken on or before a second failure assessed as unacceptable (third failure in
licence cases)
the court contacted for a hearing date
all of this achieved within 10 days.
National Standards monitoring on enforcement uses a sample of cases commenced six months
previously, so the sample for the reporting period April to September 2005 will contain cases that
commenced between October 2004 and March 2005.
The overall performance on enforcement has improved considerably and the 90% target has been
exceeded consistently each month since the beginning of the year
• 38 areas met or exceeded the 90% for breach action within 10 days.
• 6 areas were within 10% of the target.
• Only one area was more than 10% below the target.
Compliance over the period was 81% (based on the proportion of cases where there were no 2nd
(or 3rd for licences) unacceptable failures or where the order was breached but allowed to continue
by the court). The target was increased from 70% in 2004-05 to 85% this year. Twelve areas met
or exceeded this new target whilst only one areas missed it by more than 10%.
6
Enforcement April - September 2005
7
Enforcement and Compliance by Month
92%
90%
Monthly
Performance
88%
86%
84%
Cumulative
82%
80%
Apr-04
May-04
Jun-04
Jul-04
Aug-04
Sep-04
Oct-04
Nov-04
Dec-04
Jan-05
Feb-05
Mar-05
Apr-05
May-05
Jun-05
Jul-05
Aug-05
Sep-05
Compliance by Month
90%
85%
Actual - orders & licences
Performance
80%
75%
Target
70%
65%
Apr-04
May-04
Jun-04
Jul-04
Aug-04
Sep-04
Oct-04
Nov-04
Dec-04
Jan-05
Feb-05
Mar-05
Apr-05
May-05
Jun-05
Jul-05
Aug-05
Sep-05
8
2. Accredited Programmes - April to September 2005
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
Actual 949 1856 3351 4816 6124 7255
Profile 777 1695 3003 4296 5427 6789 8050 9271 10804 11921 13221 15000
Percent 122% 109% 112% 112% 113% 107%
14000
Actual
12000
Profile
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
• 26 areas exceeded their profiled target, compared with 18 in the first half of 2004-05.
• 8 Areas were within 10% of the target.
• 11 areas were more than 10% below target, half the number in the corresponding period
last year
The best performing areas were: The most serious under-achievers were:
9
Accredited Programmes Completions April 2005 - September 2005
10
3. Enhanced Community Punishment (ECP) / Unpaid Work, April to September 2005
Last year’s target of 30,000 completions was exceeded by 28%. This year, against the more
challenging target of 50,000 competitions for the year, the NPS is achieving 98% of the profiled
completions at the half-way stage.
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
Actual 3899 8029 12442 16742 20601 24540
Profile 4166 8334 12500 16668 20835 25002 29169 33335 37502 41669 45834 50000
Percent 94% 96% 100% 100% 99% 98%
50000
Actual
Profile
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
The best performing areas were: The most serious under-achievers were:
12
4. DTTOs /DRRs – April to September 2005
This is the first year there has been a target on actual numbers of completions of DTTO/DRRs. In
previous years the target was on commencements with a completion rate target introduced last
year. The table below shows the profile towards a 4,000 completions target for the year. It shows
a rate of improvement which, if maintained, would mean getting very close to, if not meeting the
target.
DTTO/DRR Completions against Profiled Target
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
Actual 261 549 847 1149 1410 1736
Profile 329 667 999 1332 1668 1998 2334 2669 2999 3332 3665 4000
Percent 79% 82% 85% 86% 85% 87%
4000
3500 Actual
Profile
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
The best performing areas were: The most serious under-achievers were:
13
Whilst the DTTO/DRR target for 2005-06 relates to completions, it is important that areas do all
they can to maximise commencements. The NPD will be monitoring commencements closely and
will include a commencements measure in the weighted scorecard if performance falls below 80%.
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
Actual 993 1973 3121 4185 5228 6362
Profile 1333 2667 4000 5333 6667 8000 9333 10667 12000 13333 14667 16000
Percent 74% 74% 78% 78% 78% 80%
16000
14000 Actual
Profile
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
The best performing areas were: The most serious under-achievers were:
14
DTTO/DRR Completions April 2005 - September 2005
15
DTTO/DRR Commencements April 2005 - September 2005
16
5. Basic Skills - April to September 2005
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
Actual 4069 8373 12680 16055 19626 23208
Profile 2400 4800 7200 9598 11600 14402 18000 21600 25600 30000 34800 40000
Percent 170% 174% 176% 167% 169% 161%
40000
35000 Actual
Profile
30000
25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
The best performing areas were: The most serious under-achiever was:
17
Basic Skills Awards
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
Actual 1415 2667 4036 5455 6585 7930
Profile 669 1338 2006 2675 3273 4083 4964 5844 6724 7675 8767 10000
Percent 212% 199% 201% 204% 201% 194%
10000
Actual
Profile
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
Apr-05 May-05 Jun-05 Jul-05 Aug-05 Sep-05 Oct-05 Nov-05 Dec-05 Jan-06 Feb-06 Mar-06
Performance exceeded the profiled target every month since the beginning of the year, reaching
194% of the profiled target by the end of the second quarter.
The area breakdown highlights just how good the half-year results have been:
The best performing areas were: The two areas below target were:
18
Basic Skills, April 2005 - September 2005
Region Area Profiled Starts % Profiled Performance Profiled Awards % Profiled Performanc
Starts Target against Awards Target e against
Target Achieved starts Target Achieved awards
19
6. Race and Ethnic Monitoring
At the end of December 2000, 9.8% of probation staff were from minority ethnic backgrounds (see
regional breakdown below) compared with a target of 8.4% set for 2009. Probation Statistics
published for the year ending March 2003 (the latest available) show that overall the representation
of minority ethnic groups in NPS staff for England and Wales, was 11.3% against 9% in the Labour
Force Survey 2001 (LFS).
All of the regional targets have already been met across the NPS with some significant
improvements since 2000. Some additional achievements have been made:
• There are 6 minority ethnic board chairs. (None of the previous 54 committee chairs was.)
• There are presently 84 minority ethnic board members (there were only a handful previously on
probation committees).
• There are particularly encouraging trends in specific probation areas. Bedfordshire, Greater
Manchester, Leicestershire & Rutland, London, Merseyside, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire,
Warwickshire, West Midlands & West Yorkshire all indicate that over 10% of their staff are from
minority ethnic groups. As these are local areas with significant clusters of people from
minority ethnic communities, it reflects a Service that is increasingly representative of the
communities it seeks to serve.
• ACO/Area Manager grades have seen a small rise from 13 at the end of 2001 to 15 at the end
of March 2003. A scheme to provide for development needs such as mentoring and coaching
is being implemented to identify and develop talented minority ethnic staff.
• 9.2% of senior probation officers (middle managers) are from minority ethnic groups. This has
increased from 8.6% in 2001 and exceeds the March 2009 target of 6.5%.
• Overall the March 2003 figures show the proportion of minority ethnic main grade probation
officers at 12.1%.
• Each of the 42 probation boards published a Race Equality Scheme by 31st May 2002. The
Actions Plans within each of these Schemes will help to ensure that the NPS, as an
organisation, fulfils its duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and promotes
race equality and equality of opportunity for all staff.
• Implementation of race and ethnic monitoring according to the Census 2001 16+1
categorisation.
• More focussed approaches to work with racially motivated offenders are being developed.
Interventions are being tailored to minority ethnic offenders and community safety work with
minority ethnic groups is being reviewed.
The table below shows performance against regional targets as at December 2000 and March
2003 along with the 2009 targets.
20
Region Target set 2000 2003 Above/Below
Achieved Achieved Target
West Midlands 11.6 13.3 18.0 Above
North East 1.4 1.7 4.0 Above
East 4.9 4.9 6.1 Above
North West 5.4 6.1 8.4 Above
East Midlands 7.2 8.6 10.2 Above
Yorks & Humber 5.1 8.4 9.7 Above
South East 3.6 4 5.0 Above
South West 2.6 3.3 3.6 Above
London 26.5 30.2 26.6 Above
Wales 1.7 2.3 3.9 Above
Missing Data
The 16+1 census classification of race and ethnicity became mandatory in April 2003. In
Performance Report 13, we published data from RDS (from Areas’ quarterly listings, formerly Form
20 returns) showing the proportion of new orders and licences made between January and April
2004 that did not have a correctly entered race and ethnic classification. We have updated and
published that information in subsequent Performance Reports.
Performance has improved consistently with each quarter and is now of a sufficient robustness to
allow RDS to publish the number of starts of community orders by ethnicity for the first time. It is
hoped that its inclusion in the weighted scorecard has driven performance still further, so that in the
last in quarter for which data is available, (April – June), the target was exceeded for the first time.
21
Persons commencing supervision by the Probation Service, April to June 2005
All court orders Licences Average
Total % with valid Total % with valid
starts ethnic code starts ethnic code
North East
Teesside 1,515 100 306 100 100
County Durham 532 100 128 99 100
Northumbria 1,370 99 302 99 99
North West
Cheshire 707 98 210 96 97
Cumbria 504 91 181 92 92
Lancashire 1,396 98 391 99 99
Greater Manchester 3,062 97 1,027 97 97
Merseyside 1,637 96 508 94 95
Yorkshire & Humberside
Humberside 844 96 287 95 95
North Yorkshire 655 98 125 99 99
South Yorkshire 1,375 98 426 97 98
West Yorkshire 2,712 98 624 97 97
East Midlands
Derbyshire 871 97 209 91 94
Leicestershire & Rutland 831 99 193 97 98
Lincolnshire 441 100 101 97 98
Northamptonshire 501 99 152 99 99
Nottinghamshire 1,209 97 292 88 92
West of Midlands
West Mercia 837 93 401 89 91
Staffordshire 842 95 250 92 93
Warwickshire 384 94 62 94 94
West Midlands 2,720 99 1,675 97 98
Eastern
Bedfordshire 381 99 109 96 98
Cambridgeshire 640 88 131 85 87
Essex 989 99 227 97 98
Hertfordshire 702 88 158 84 86
Norfolk 574 99 101 97 98
Suffolk 424 99 106 100 100
South East
Hampshire 1,465 98 340 95 97
Kent 1,054 100 235 100 100
Thames Valley 1,218 92 270 91 92
Surrey 539 97 77 92 95
Sussex 722 99 156 83 91
South West
Avon & Somerset 755 96 237 87 91
Devon & Cornwall 870 99 222 95 97
Dorset 366 98 127 98 98
Gloucestershire 349 96 94 94 95
Wiltshire 387 97 59 90 93
Wales
Dyfed-Powys 326 94 68 99 96
Gwent 486 100 128 99 100
North Wales 534 94 147 88 91
South Wales 1,311 99 374 94 96
22
7. Sickness Absence - April to September 2005
From 1st July 2001, local areas were required to monitor sickness absence using a standard
format and provide quarterly monitoring returns to the NPD. Reporting was increased to monthly
in July 2002.
The target for 2002/03 was 10 days or fewer sickness absences per employee. This was reduced
to an average of 9 days per employee for 2003/04 and has remained at 9 days since.
Many areas already have good systems for monitoring and managing absence and such good
practice is being shared across the national HR network.
This includes:
In the first half of 2005-06, performance has improved by half a day from the 2004-05 average of
12.3 days to 11.8 days per employee.
Sickness absence is not included in the weighted scorecard at the end of this report but it
will be included in the next report.
Seven areas are currently achieving the target by having fewer than nine days sickness per
employee per year, with a further five areas are achieving the old target by having fewer than 10
days.
The best performing areas were: The most serious under-achievers were:
Details of area and regional performance are shown on the next page.
23
Sickness Absence, April 2005 - September 2005
Region Area Short Long DDA - Total Total Ave Ave Ave Average Performance
term term related days staff days days days days (target = 9
sickness sickness sickness lost years Short Long DDA - absence days)
term term related
West Staffordshire 1502 1027 49 2578 209 7.2 4.9 0.2 12.3 Above
Midlands Warwickshire 362 607 0 969 97 3.7 6.2 0.0 10.0 Near miss
West Mercia 945 926 430 2301 188 5.0 4.9 2.3 12.3 Above
West Midlands 4711 4657 7 9375 661 7.1 7.0 0.0 14.2 Above
Regional Sub Total 7519 7217 486 15223 1155 6.5 6.2 0.4 13.2
North East County Durham 823 944 131 1898 148 5.6 6.4 0.9 12.9 Above
Northumbria 2210 1813 0 4023 382 5.8 4.7 0.0 10.5 Above
Teesside 1003 1285 271 2560 187 5.4 6.9 1.4 13.7 Above
Regional Sub Total 4036 4042 402 8481 717 5.6 5.6 0.6 11.8
East Bedfordshire 683 1050 11 1744 116 5.9 9.1 0.1 15.0 Above
Cambridgeshire 681 242 131 1054 110 6.2 2.2 1.2 9.6 Near miss
Essex 1648 1125 0 2773 262 6.3 4.3 0.0 10.6 Above
Hertfordshire 720 261 168 1149 141 5.1 1.8 1.2 8.1 Below
Norfolk 991 693 149 1832 138 7.2 5.0 1.1 13.3 Above
Suffolk 607 278 8 893 105 5.8 2.6 0.1 8.5 Below
Regional Sub Total 5329 3649 466 9444 873 6.1 4.2 0.5 10.8
North West Cheshire 1053 1007 0 2060 178 5.9 5.6 0.0 11.5 Above
Cumbria 569 437 16 1022 85 6.7 5.1 0.2 12.0 Above
Greater Manchester 3302 6112 108 9522 649 5.1 9.4 0.2 14.7 Above
Lancashire 1641 2086 452 4179 300 5.5 7.0 1.5 13.9 Above
Merseyside 1605 1597 388 3590 386 4.2 4.1 1.0 9.3 Near miss
Regional Sub Total 8171 11238 964 20373 1598 5.1 7.0 0.6 12.7
East Derbyshire 772 661 14 1447 182 4.3 3.6 0.1 8.0 Below
Midlands Leicestershire & Rutland 1502 1201 0 2704 294 5.1 4.1 0.0 9.2 Near miss
Lincolnshire 777 463 159 1398 113 6.9 4.1 1.4 12.4 Above
Northamptonshire 770 1223 0 1993 130 5.9 9.4 0.0 15.3 Above
Nottinghamshire 949 1562 107 2618 252 3.8 6.2 0.4 10.4 Above
Regional Sub Total 4769 5110 280 10159 970 4.9 5.3 0.3 10.5
Yorkshire & Humberside 1408 930 0 2338 226 6.2 4.1 0.0 10.4 Above
Humberside North Yorkshire 481 182 0 663 117 4.1 1.6 0.0 5.7 Below
South Yorkshire 1715 1618 60 3393 402 4.3 4.0 0.1 8.4 Below
West Yorkshire 2723 2674 80 5477 521 5.2 5.1 0.2 10.5 Above
Regional Sub Total 6328 5404 140 11872 1265 5.0 4.3 0.1 9.4
South East Hampshire 1859 1641 0 3500 275 6.7 6.0 0.0 12.7 Above
Kent 867 1784 0 2650 234 3.7 7.6 0.0 11.3 Above
Surrey 610 427 121 1157 127 4.8 3.4 1.0 9.1 Near miss
Sussex 845 1645 2 2492 209 4.0 7.9 0.0 11.9 Above
Thames Valley 1896 1467 2 3365 306 6.2 4.8 0.0 11.0 Above
Regional Sub Total 6076 6964 125 13164 1151 5.3 6.1 0.1 11.4
South West Avon & Somerset 1870 538 0 2408 290 6.4 1.9 0.0 8.3 Below
Devon & Cornwall 804 1555 0 2359 230 3.5 6.8 0.0 10.3 Above
Dorset 530 1032 0 1562 109 4.9 9.5 0.0 14.3 Above
Gloucestershire 292 320 0 612 83 3.5 3.8 0.0 7.4 Below
Wiltshire 468 329 0 797 72 6.5 4.6 0.0 11.1 Above
Regional Sub Total 3964 3774 0 7737 784 5.1 4.8 0.0 9.9
London London East 981 1527 0 2509 163 6.0 9.4 0.0 15.4 Above
London North 1167 1672 0 2839 163 7.2 10.3 0.0 17.4 Above
London South 1201 1536 2 2739 192 6.3 8.0 0.0 14.3 Above
London West 1106 1939 130 3174 207 5.4 9.4 0.6 15.4 Above
London Central 2497 3824 4 6325 504 5.0 7.6 0.0 12.6 Above
London London Sub Total 6953 10498 136 17587 1228 5.7 8.6 0.1 14.3
Wales Dyfed-Powys 488 343 0 831 75 6.5 4.6 0.0 11.1 Above
Gwent 727 901 0 1628 124 5.8 7.2 0.0 13.1 Above
North Wales 587 819 132 1538 144 4.1 5.7 0.9 10.7 Above
South Wales 1533 2472 22 4027 295 5.2 8.4 0.1 13.6 Above
Regional Sub Total 3335 4535 154 8023 638 5.2 7.1 0.2 12.6
ENGLAND & WALES 56480 62431 3152 122063 10379 5.4 6.0 0.3 11.8
24
8. Victim Contact – April to June 2005
The NPS Business Plan makes it clear that the National Probation Service delivers services to
victims as well as offenders. The National Standard for victim contact work is that probation areas
should offer face-to-face contact between the victim (or family) and a member of the probation
service (or agent) within 8 weeks of the offender being sentenced. The NPS target is to make
initial contact within that timescale in 85% of all eligible cases. This was exceeded for the first time
in 2003/04 and performance continued to improve during 2004/05 with 93% of victims contacted in
accordance with the national standard. That high level of performance has been maintained in the
first quarter of 2005-06.
25
Victim Contact
All Cases, April 2004 - June 2005
The aim is to improve the timeliness of the NPS reports to the magistrates' courts. National
Standards 2005 specify that the report should be provided in accordance with the timescale set
down by the commissioning court.
The figures presented overleaf show the proportion of reports that were completed to the deadline
set by the court and include fast and standard delivery reports to magistrates’ courts. This is the
first time this approach has been used, so comparison with other years is not possible.
Based on the new method of measurement, the NPS completed 98% of court reports within the
deadline set by the court. The area breakdown shows all areas exceeding the 90% target.
The data is for the first quarter of the year as late and poor quality returns meant that Quarter 2
data could not be used.
The table below shows performance against the previous 15-day standard for completing Pre-
Sentence Reports (PSRs). Performance peaked in 2001-02 when this was a cash performance-
linked measure and fell sharply in 2003-04. Performance for 2004/05 improved to 73%.
1996-97 55%
1997-98 58%
1998-99 63%
1999-00 68%
2000-01 75%
2001-02 79%
2002-03 78%
2003-04 65%
2004-05 73%
27
Timeliness of Court Reports to Magistrates Court
April 2005 to June 2005
28
10. Performance on Risk of Harm and Prolific & other Priority Offenders (PPOs)
There are two performance targets relating to protecting the public from harm and
protecting the public from prolific and other priority offenders
• 90% of risk of harm assessments, risk management plans and OASys sentence
plans on high risk offenders are completed within five working days of the
commencement of the order or release into the community.
• 90% of risk of harm screenings / full analysis (as appropriate) and OASys sentence
plans are completed on Prolific and other Priority Offenders within five working days
of commencement of the order or release into the community
Although measurement on these key targets began in April, data quality issues have
meant that it is only from August 2005 that we have reliable data. This is shown at area
level in the following pages. It is important to note that in some areas the percentages are
derived from very small numbers.
The detailed data shows that half the probation areas achieved above 80% on the high
risk target. The range of performance, however, demonstrates the full spectrum, from 0%
to 100% and is erratic even within regions. Five areas achieved 100%: Avon & Somerset,
Dorset, Lincolnshire, Gwent and North Wales
Areas performed less well on the PPO target which was met or exceeded by only nine
areas, with a further eight getting to within 10%.
It is acknowledged that performance on both these key indicators is some way off the
target but it is expected to improve now that it is being reported on and included in the
weighted scorecard routinely.
29
Performance against Target on High Risk Cases, August - September 2005
South West
Avon & Somerset 7 7 100% Above
Devon/Cornwall 12 10 83% Near Miss
Dorset 6 6 100% Above
Gloucestershire 11 5 45% Below
Wiltshire 13 12 92% Above
Regional Sub-total 49 40 82% Near Miss
London
London East 13 11 85% Near Miss
London North 20 17 85% Near Miss
London South 9 6 67% Below
London West 28 19 68% Below
London 70 53 76% Below
Wales
Dyfed/Powys 13 11 85% Near Miss
Gwent 4 4 100% Above
North Wales 13 13 100% Above
South Wales 46 40 87% Near Miss
Regional Sub-total 76 68 89% Near Miss
30
Performance against Target on PPO Cases, August - September 2005
31
10. Weighted Scorecard Q2, 2005-06
The table provides comparisons between the latest position and that in the previous scorecard. It
shows areas that have:
Moved the most places up: Moved the most places down:
• Surrey • Norfolk
• Sussex • Cumbria
• Dyfed/Powys • Wiltshire
• Bedfordshire • Kent
• Devon & Cornwall • Cheshire
There were 10 areas that moved more than 10 places up and 10 areas that moved more than 10
places down since the previous quarter. Some of the volatility was caused by problems with the
IAPS data extraction in Quarter 1 which placed some areas in falsely low positions. The new
targets on PPOs and high risk have also contributed to the volatility.
In order to explain some of the volatility, a new feature in this edition includes a brief explanation
next to each area whose position is more than 10 places above or below the position in the
previous scorecard. Of course some areas will have moved up by virtue of general, across the
board improvements.
32
Area name Perform- Perform- Overall Position Position Diffe- Explanation
ance ance Perform- now last time rence
against against ance
Target Average
Leicestershire & Rutland 70 58 129 1 1 0
Surrey 34 54 88 2 33 31 General improvement, IAPS
Devon & Cornwall 28 58 86 3 21 18 Improved OBP, ECP; good on PPO & High risk
Essex 33 46 79 4 8 4
Warwickshire 30 49 79 5 11 6
County Durham 38 30 68 6 10 4
Lincolnshire 12 52 65 7 20 13 Improved ethnic data; good on PPO & High risk
Northamptonshire 19 35 54 8 7 -1
London North 19 35 54 9 27 18 Improved ethnic data; good on PPO & High risk
North Wales 20 31 50 10 12 2
Sussex 23 24 47 11 37 26 General improvement, IAPS
South Wales 21 23 44 12 22 10
Teesside 16 28 44 13 5 -8
Gwent 14 22 36 14 25 11 100% on ethnic data, PPO & High risk
Dorset 9 21 30 15 4 -11 Slippage on 4 targets, poor PPO
Staffordshire 18 7 26 16 16 0
Nottinghamshire 18 7 25 17 29 12 Gen. improvement, good high risk, 100% PPO
Bedfordshire 16 9 25 18 39 21 Gen. improvement, esp.ethnic data, 100% PPO
Dyfed/Powys 8 11 19 19 44 25 General improvement, especially on basic skills
Derbyshire 4 14 18 20 13 -7
Cheshire 9 9 18 21 3 -18 Poor compliance, slippage on basic skills
Greater Manchester 0 13 12 22 15 -7
North Yorkshire -2 12 10 23 9 -14 High risk and PPO
Hampshire 5 -2 4 24 30 6
West Yorkshire -4 8 4 25 23 -2
West Midlands -3 6 3 26 35 9
Humberside 4 -4 0 27 19 -8
Northumbria -11 1 -9 28 14 -14 Basic skills - impact of OLASS
London South -13 -1 -14 29 43 14 Improvement, esp. enforcement and ethnic data
Suffolk -21 0 -20 30 34 4
Lancashire -17 -6 -24 31 31 0
Cumbria -21 -4 -25 32 2 -30 High risk, PPO, ethnic data
London East -24 -13 -37 33 38 5
Thames Valley -27 -13 -40 34 24 -10
South Yorkshire -18 -23 -41 35 36 1
Avon & Somerset -30 -16 -46 36 26 -10
London West -34 -24 -58 37 40 3
Kent -31 -28 -59 38 18 -20 High risk , PPO
Wiltshire -50 -24 -74 39 17 -22 Slippage on basic skills, ECP & compliance
Merseyside -39 -36 -75 40 28 -12 High risk, PPO,
Norfolk -52 -40 -92 41 6 -35 High risk, PPO (0% on both)
Gloucestershire -52 -40 -92 42 42 0
Cambridgeshire -58 -44 -102 43 41 -2
West Mercia -61 -41 -102 44 32 -12 High risk & PPO
Hertfordshire -92 -92 -184 45 45 0
Grand Total -194 211 17
33
Leicestershire & Rutland
150 Surrey
Devon & Cornwall
Essex
Warwickshire
County Durham
Lincolnshire
100 Northamptonshire
London North
North Wales
BAND 1 Sussex
South Wales
Teesside
50 Gwent
Dorset
Staffordshire
BAND 2 Nottinghamshire
Bedfordshire
Dyfed/Powys
0 Derbyshire
Cheshire
Greater Manchester
BAND 3 North Yorkshire
Hampshire
West Yorkshire
-50 West Midlands
Humberside
Northumbria
BAND 4 London South
Suffolk
Lancashire
-100 Cumbria
London East
Thames Valley
BAND 5 South Yorkshire
Avon & Somerset
London West
-150 Kent
Wiltshire
Merseyside
Norfolk
Gloucestershire
Cambridgeshire
-200 West Mercia
Hertfordshire
35
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